Help and Advice

Customer Comments

John Hall

Living in Staffordshire, I was originally apprenticed in engineering but switched to cabinet-making in the mid-1980s. Having come from a family with a strong musical background, and always having had a love of anything which made use of the skills I have in my hands, the inspiration to make my first classical guitar came from my son’s playing of the instrument. That was about 12 years ago, and it triggered a search in the local library where I found a book by Irving Sloane on building classical guitars and basically that’s where I started, making and trying out different things but only for home, including a mandolin which went to my brother. I’ve now made the first guitar that is going outside of the family and want to develop something that has been a hobby until now into a more full-time occupation.

My guitars have a light construction, using a traditional fan-strutting pattern, and to make the most of the texture and feel of the wood are finished with oil. The aim is to produce a guitar which is light and responsive, has good playability, and where the sound quality has clarity and a sweetness of tone.

Having got to this point, the next stage is to further develop my own strutting patterns and style to produce a guitar which is both aesthetically pleasing and which provides the owner with an instrument which can enable them to explore the possibilities of the music and of their own playing.